Lind suffers mild setback

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Due to the improvement he has felt the two preceding days, Adam Lind thought he’d be back in the Jays lineup Friday night. But before the two teams took batting practice, Lind was going through some on field drills, including running the bases and his back once again tightened up. So, for the fifth consecutive game, the first baseman was on the sidelines.

“He started to feel some soreness in the left side of his lower back when he was running the bases,” manager John Farrell said. “This is on the heels of two very good days of work. He swung the bat yesterday in the cage with no restrictions before we flew to Minnesota. So, he’s still day to day.”

Farrell said the Jays haven’t reached the point where they feel a DL stint is necessary.

“We felt all along if we got him back in the lineup by Monday that would still give us seven more days of activity rather than the two weeks on the DL. So, we’re day to day.”

For Friday’s game, Edwin Encarnacion was at first base in place of Lind.

DAVIS STILL NINTH

Despite the fact Rajai Davis has gone 7-for-12 in his past three games, Farrell says he’ll be keeping Davis in the No. 9 slot in the lineup and continue to have Yunel Escobar lead off and be followed by Corey Patterson.

“With the exception of Adam (Lind) not being in the lineup, I think we’re starting to get a little continuity and a little rhythm to the offensive side and I think that guys have settled into spots in the lineup,” Farrell said. “I think I’ll let it go that way for at least now.”

COOPER SITS

With Lind out and just 12 position players to pick from, Farrell doesn’t have a lot of options available. But he made one shift for Friday’s game when he sat the left-handed hitting David Cooper even though the Twins started a right-hander — Carl Pavano.

“Pavano has actually been more successful against left-handers than he has right-handers this year,” Farrell said.

In his previous seven starts, left-handers have been hitting Pavano at a .264 clip. Right-handers have been batting .344 against him.